During an interview with Lilian Garcia’s “Chasing Glory” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold Steve” Austin revealed the reason as to why he refused the ECW championship during his run with the company. He said,
“It was also because I figured if I rolled in there and Paul [Heyman] wanted to put the strap on me; but, Mike [Whipwreck] had it. I said, ‘No man.’ Here I just came waltzing in and because I came from WCW. I was a very good mechanic in the ring; but, I wasn’t a superstar yet although we’d call myself “Superstar” Steve Austin there in ECW – I said, ‘Man, everybody’s expecting me to take the Title. Let me chase it. Let me earn it.’ I want to get over with that ECW crowd or wherever it is from a television standpoint. Those people in that sh*t hole arena, the ECW Arena – it was a dump and when I say that I mean it as a compliment. It was just this raw crazy atmosphere with a lot of guys working their asses off to build that place up and doing a hell of a job with all those great promos. I just didn’t want to waltz in there and get handed a belt. I wanted to earn it through the boys in the company and earn the fans respect. I just didn’t want it handed to me….I wanted to earn it and I wanted to work for it.“
